American public higher education is in trouble. Besieged by declining state and Federal support for more than 30 years, public colleges and universities are facing a "game-changing" set of challenges that threaten to alter the very nature of the institutions. As two recessions withered state budgets in the first decade of the 21st…

The number of children in foster care has nearly doubled in recent years. Despite reform efforts, the U.S. child welfare system is not increasing the number of children who get adopted. The federal government spends over $12 billion annually on child welfare programs, but the growing government bureaucracy has allowed the problems to worsen. The…

In response to increased federal requirements for mandated services under child support reforms, several states have begun privatizing child support enforcement services that were traditionally delivered by public agencies. This report to the U.S. House of Representatives examines: (1) states' rationale for full-service privatization; (2) how the…

Much of the literature on charter schools treats them as an undifferentiated mass. Here we present and test a typology of charter schools that is grounded in the norms, traditions, and perspectives of the founding organization or organizers. We suggest that there are two broad categories of charter founders--those who are more mission oriented and…